Every so often, we columnists wonder whether anyone reads our words, much less absorbs the content and messages we are trying to communicate.

In past issues over time, I’ve written about building new merchandising cultures, coordinating Market Impact Teams to vastly improve product presentation in the marketplace while growing volume in the process, building upon and strengthening company morale through positive change and for Company sales forces to get back to the basic fundamentals by following the Ten Merchandising Principles.

However, it was an article that I recently wrote in Beverage World about Customer Service on the ‘street of dreams’ in Makati, the Philippines that elicited a phone call from the Executive Vice President of Destilleria Limtuaco, Mrs. Olivia Limpe-Aw. She’s been an avid reader of my columns for years, but she had never realized I was a resident of the same city for the past decade.

We got together for lunch the following day and within a week, agreed on a game plan to work together for the next six months in order to change the culture in her organization while growing volume, share and profit along the way. What really impressed me about Olivia was her insightfulness to understand that change was required in her company; to know where to look for some answers and then make a sound business decision to just ‘get it done’. As she mentioned, “Believe there are many companies that share the same problems and concerns as ours. It’s a universal subject for all marketers and distributors of consumer goods, so knew I had to do something!”

Destilleria Limtuaco is the oldest distillery in the country, dating back to 1852 and in the beginning, manufactured a Chinese medicinal wine that was called Siok Hok Tong. Over time, the company added over 30 different wines and spirits to its expanding portfolio and now has three large bottling, processing plus aging plants and warehouses in Metro Manila.

The Company entered the Export Market too and has distributed products to over fifteen countries on four continents and even got into the bottled water business in 1991. Rain Forest Natural Mineral Water is now the leading brand in the country and an overwhelming favourite of Filipino consumers.

Building a New Merchandising Culture is a Process built upon a series of Accelerating Systems, so the first order of business was to nominate an internal champion to work with me in coordinating the necessary steps to get the program in motion.

Ultimately, was very fortunate to have been assigned Miss Miriam Cruz, as my advocate, sidekick and partner. A talented lady, she is full of energy, enthusiasm and eager to learn, which are the people I like working with the most. Miriam works for Convoy Marketing which was internally formed in 1994 to maximize the marketing and selling opportunities of all Limtuaco products.

The next step was to develop a sort of ‘teaser campaign’ within the organization to let everyone know that something new and exciting was about to happen.

Behind the scenes…senior management and the marketing department were working to create a motivational theme, an inspirational slogan and then to team up with Graphics Department in designing a logo and deciding on the images that will be inserted onto the Merchandising Principles Clipboard sales aid.

Meanwhile IT was checking out high volume outlets within the various trade channels creating an detailed information data base and HR began to look closely at each department to make sure the right people will be bonded together for the eventual Market Impact Team blitz.

In this synchronized fashion, it truly becomes a team effort and because every department is involved, everyone can take a certain pride of ownership. Once this important foundation is built…I can then begin to prepare for the next stage…training the organization.

Coaching Point : Do It Right or Don’t Do It At All.